Published in the Durham Herald-Sun  February 23, 2007

 

  A DANGEROUS TIME FOR UNDUE CORPORATE INFLUENCE

 

By Jim Warren

 

 "Ten major US companies are pushing the idea for carbon caps ... CEO Jim Rogers joined us in the studio to tell us why he's taking action!"

 

With that Valentine’s Day opening, National Public Radio joined the chorus lauding the Duke Energy boss’s calls for climate protection and energy efficiency.

 

Witness the power of public relations – using a barrel of ratepayer money to fuel the campaign painting Rogers as a utility executive with conscience.

 

I wish it were so.  It’s sad that in a democratic society, corporate PR so easily diverts prominent journalists into excluding key facts that were already reported by state media: 

 

1) Rogers is pushing the NC Utilities Commission for permission to build two massive coal-fired power plants that would emit 11 million tons annually of the foremost global warming pollutant, carbon dioxide. 

 

2) He insisted at Commission hearings that the 1600 megawatt Cliffside plants should be exempt from the carbon regulations he’s promoting nationally.

 

So the nation should tackle global warming while North Carolina remains mired in business-as-usual?  This is classic greenwashing – claiming to pursue environmental goals while doing the opposite.

 

Rogers believes a technology might be invented in 20 years to remove greenhouse gases from Cliffside’s smokestacks.  But his own witnesses testified that if ever developed, such equipment would be cost-prohibitive. 

 

Global warming is already causing devastating changes and suffering, and the hazard isn’t just gradual rises in temperature and sea level, but potentially crippling social and economic upheaval as various tipping points are crossed.  There is scientific consensus that dramatic reductions in greenhouse gases must begin immediately – not “maybe later.”

 

CEO Rogers drew headlines by co-chairing an energy efficiency task force, but testified in September that Duke won’t comply with its recommendations.  After heavy criticism, he publicly pledged millions toward efficiency programs, but larded the promise with conditions.  His executive Janice Hager testified that Duke’s review of efficiency programs might be delayed, again, until 2008, while insisting a measly 101 megawatts is the company-wide potential through 2042.

 

Duke improperly excluded comparison of efficiency before choosing Cliffside’s old-style coal burners.  Hager admitted she could rework the modeling – adding efficiency – within a few months and at low expense.  But Rogers demands the Commission approve Cliffside by February 28.

 

Rogers says his coal burners would be “best cost” for customers, despite increases that have nearly doubled September’s estimated $2 billion price tag.  Since Duke doesn’t have firm bids for 75% of the project’s costs, look for more hikes if the Commission grants approval.

 

Between them, Duke and Progress Energy are planning over $20 billion worth of new coal and nuclear plants, and they want the Utilities Commission and legislature to force customers to pay up front – plus a utility mark-up – even if new plants are cancelled (as happened in the 198os), and regardless of cost overruns.  In pushing for Cliffside, Rogers testified that nuclear plants would cost at least 40% more than current estimates by Westinghouse. 

 

Under cross examination, Rogers insisted he hadn’t even considered the key financial benefits of the project for his corporation: the revenue impacts of adding $4 billion plus a

guaranteed mark-up to the rate base.  Apparently his board of directors never asked.  

 

Further undermining Duke’s claimed need for Cliffside is its recent proposal to sell half the plant to an unnamed buyer.  Most of the rest is committed to wholesale buyers, so Duke ratepayers would absorb the financial risk and pollution on behalf of others. 

 

NC utilities already generate enough energy, but we waste half of it.  With coal and nuclear costs rising and uncertain, it’s a shame if North Carolina gambles billions of public dollars without even trying efficiency, cogeneration and renewables – the costs of which are decreasing dramatically – in a free marketplace.

 

As others move ahead with smart-energy solutions that save customers money, create thousands of jobs, and reduce pollution – without hampering growth – Duke and Progress play an old game.  They wield control over state decision-makers, thereby blocking clean-energy companies and state agencies from widely deploying proven renewables and efficiency programs.  Even the Commission’s Public Staff recommended Cliffside without waiting to consider all sides at the hearings.

 

Jim Rogers warns the state could run out of power!  But Duke admits it wants to build smaller, quicker-built gas-fired plants anyway, which would prevent any potential short-term gap in case clean-energy programs develop more slowly than in other states. 

 

The only thing between North Carolina and lower greenhouse gases, good jobs distributed across the state – and power bill stability – is the utilities’ muscle.

 

A growing people’s movement is demanding an end to the undue corporate influence that’s harming our society.  This state badly needs the kind of leader Duke’s Jim Rogers purports to be.